Monthly Archives: September 2013

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The job description Mike D’Antoni provided for Jordan Hill represents a perfect case study on both a player’s evolution and a coach’s perception of him.

Four years ago, D’Antoni found so little use for Hill as the New York Knicks’ eighth overall draft pick that he hardly played his rookie season before getting shipped to the Houston Rockets. Nearly a year ago, D’Antoni sat Hill for three consecutive games because he saw no value in how he’d fit into a offense predicated on outside shooters until his endlessly valuable and defense convinced him otherwise. During this offseason, both D’Antoni and Kobe Bryant both instructed Hill to work on his mid-range game, an order the Lakers forward took to heart by taking between 600-700 shots per day at his Atlanta residence.

D’Antoni remains undecided whether Hill will start at power forward alongside Pau Gasol or if he will come off the bench. But D’Antoni remains adamant that Hill can become an effective mid-range shooter without diluting his effectiveness as an energy player in rebounding and on defense.

“One doesn’t mean he can’t do the other,” D’Antoni said. “If you’re shooting it, you’re not getting the rebound. When he’s not shooting it, he’ll get the rebound. It’ll just make him a better player.”Continue reading →

Pau Gasol is interviewed.The Los Angeles Lakers held a media day at their El Segundo practice facility. Players were photographed for team materials, and interviewed by the press. El Segundo, CA. 9/27/2013. photo by (John McCoy/Los Angeles Daily News)

After rehabbing all offseason on respective knee and hamstring injuries Pau Gasol and Steve Nash gradually progressed their activity level by participating in most of Monday’s practice.

Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni said Gasol completed all of Tuesday’s practice, while Nash went through most of it until sitting out of an unspecified drill toward the end of the session. Both Nash and Gasol have reported positive results from their respective rehabs, but the Lakers have taken a conservative approach toward using them in training camp to ensure they stay healthy.

Nash’s 32-game absence last season consisted of a fractured left leg that sidelined him for seven weeks in November and December, followed by back and hamstring issues that kept him out for three weeks in April and the last two playoff games. Gasol’s 33 game absence entailed a variety of ailments, including plantar fascia in his right foot, concussion and knee tendinosis.

“The biggest thing was he didn’t get healthy until the end of the year and he’s still playing through a a lot of pain,” D’Antoni said of Gasol, who averaged a career-low 13.7 points on 46.6 percent shooting. “But now it’s better trying to keep him healthy as much as we can and pain free. When your knees are hurt, it’s not easy to play. When he feels good, he’s going to be great.”

Gasol went through a procedure in May to repair the pain in his knee tendons. But he passed on playing for his native Spain in the FIBA European Championships this summer and hadn’t completed many basketball drills until the Lakers’ began training camp on Saturday. After saying Saturday he planned to sit out some of the eariy sessions, Gasol’s improved health has allowed him to do so otherwise.

“Keep your fingers crossed but hopefully he has his best year ever,” D’Antoni said of Gasol, who will have an increased role stemmed from Dwight Howard’s departure to the Houston Rockets. “He’s still young enough. He’s only 33.”

D’Antoni was obviously joking, but how many more years can he see Gasol playing?

“That depends on whether he wants to or not. Physically, yeah, I think he has a lot,” Gasol said. “I don’t know hat a lot means. I think he has at least five more good years, real good years, in him.”

The Lakers’ newly acquired big man remains a familiar name to plenty of Los Angeles fans.

But for those in need of a Chris Kaman introduction, he brings many different qualities than Dwight Howard.

First, the bad.

Kaman hardly fits the defensive prowess that Howard possessed when he won the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year award three in the past five seasons. Kaman doesn’t even match up to Howard when he was limited last season because of a surgically repaired back, and, the Lakers suspect, inconsistent effort led to diminished athleticism and mobility. Meanwhile, the Dallas Mavericks let Kaman walk after one season partly because of his defense.

“Defensively I’m a completely different player,” Kaman said. “He’s an above-the-rim player. I can’t play above the rim. He’s been the defensive player of the year multiple times. It’s just a whole different style of basketball. He can just go up there and wait for the ball to come up to him and swat it. It’s completely different.”

Now, the good.

Howard has been considered the league’s best center because his athleticism allows him to overpower people. But Kaman bodes superior in his willingness to play pick-and-roll, post moves and reliable mid-range jumper. Not surprisingly, Kaman’s career 74.4 percent mark from the free throw line trumps Howard’s 57.7 percent clip. All those ingredients ensured Kaman averaging a career 11.8 points and eight rebounds and a lone All-Star appearance in his 10-year career, including eight seasons with the Clippers.

Those qualities should also help Kaman mesh well with Pau Gasol, who became confined last season to a facilitator role along the perimeter partly because of Howard’s limited mid-range game.

“I’m a similar player as Pau. I think I’m inside and outside like he is,” Kaman said. “I think he’s expanded his game as well. He shot some threes last year. I don’t know if I’m going to do that. But I think I complement his game well. We’ll see how it goes. Sometimes things don’t work out. Sometimes things work out great. You never can tell what happens.”Continue reading →

In a rehab that has taken longer than expected surrounding his surgically repaired right foot, Lakers second round draft pick Ryan Kelly made a few incremental improvements.

He said he has advanced toward running at 90 percent of his body weight on a treadmill, and plans to increase two percentage points of his body weight in subsequent days. Should that pan out, Kelly would run at his full body weight by Friday. Although he’s far from participating in full practices, Kelly also said he’s been cleared to take stationary mid-range jumpers.

The Lakers signed Kelly to a one-year, non-guaranteed deal, meaning he would have to compete for a roster spot during training camp that holds 19 players. The 6’11″ Kelly from Duke could help the Lakers. His floor spacing and mid-range jumper helped him average 12.9 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.6 blocked shots his senior season at Duke while shooting 42% from three-point range.

But he’s not expected to participate much in training camp, including appearing in any of the eight preseason games through Oct. 25. He had surgery in April to repair a screw that was initially inserted in his right foot in March 2012 to treat a broken bone. Because of that, Kelly didn’t have any pre-draft workouts and didn’t play on the Lakers’ summer league team.

Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Pau Gasol and Mike D’Antoni pose for the Lakers photographer. The Los Angeles Lakers held a media day at their El Segundo practice facility. Players were photographed for team materials, and interviewed by the press. El Segundo, CA. 9/27/2013. photo by (John McCoy/Los Angeles Daily News)

Shortly after the Lakers laced up their sneakers, worked up a sweat and studied some film, Steve Nash sensed the peaceful settings surrounding him.

Only a season after a lack of training camp under coach Mike D’Antoni provided a poor foundation toward a first-round flameout to the San Antonio Spurs, the Lakers have yearned for this moment. The time when the Lakers have a full two weeks to iron out concepts and rotations. The time when they can play basketball without worrying about the bottom-line results. The time when they can build chemistry naturally instead of mixing in formulas that don’t work.

The dynamic created an environment so striking during the Lakers’ opening weekend of training camp that Nash couldn’t help but point it out to D’Antoni.

“He told me, ‘It’s a little bit different,’ ” D’Antoni said after the first of the Lakers two practices Sunday. “I go, ‘Yeah, it feels different.’ ”Continue reading →

Pau Gasol is interviewed by former Laker and current NBA TV reporter Rick Fox.Pau Gasol is interviewed by former Laker and current NBA TV reporter Rick Fox.The Los Angeles Lakers held a media day at their El Segundo practice facility. Players were photographed for team materials, and interviewed by the press. El Segundo, CA. 9/27/2013. photo by (John McCoy/Los Angeles Daily News)

Pau Gasol survived yet another season where the Lakers didn’t trade him, but uncertainties still remain.

Those go beyond Gasol’s health after spending this offseason recovering from a knee procedure that entailed reducing the pain in his tendons. After the nixed Chris Paul deal two years ago opened up a floodgate of Gasol offers that the Lakers have rejected, will they want to keep him once his $19 million contract expires after this season?

Not that it’s surprising. But Gasol admitted that the Lakers haven’t begun any formal talks with his agent, Arn Tellum, on a possible extension.

“At some point, if the team is interested, they will approach me and there will be some meeting,” Gasol said. “But I’m not sure when or how. I’m sure it will depend how I perform during the season. The better I perform, the more interested they will be to sign me.”

Pau Gasol is interviewed.The Los Angeles Lakers held a media day at their El Segundo practice facility. Players were photographed for team materials, and interviewed by the press. El Segundo, CA. 9/27/2013. photo by (John McCoy/Los Angeles Daily News)

For a team oozing enthusiasm about finally having a full training camp under Mike D’Antoni, the Lakers are still missing key ingredients.

The most obvious absence involves Kobe Bryant, who has spent the first two days of training camp mixing in team film study while rehabbing his surgically repaired left tendon. The others involve Steve Nash and Pau Gasol, who will sit out in parts of the Lakers’ two-a-day sessions after spending the past offseasons rehabbing their respective hamstring and knee injuries.

Lisa Estrada, Director of Game Operations and Entertainment says hello to Nick Young and Jordan Farmar as they enter the practice facility for media day. The Los Angeles Lakers held a media day at their El Segundo practice facility. Players were photographed for team materials, and interviewed by the press. El Segundo, CA. 9/27/2013. photo by (John McCoy/Los Angeles Daily News)

Lakers Media Day always represents a large sampling of seemingly every single media outlet imaginable asking, grilling, flattering, annoying, joking with players.

The team’s annual event on Saturday marked a smaller gathering than usual, a reflection of diminished expectations following a championship-caliber roster flaming out in the first round of the playoffs. But as Los Angeles Daily News staff photographer John McCoy shows in his photo gallery, there were still plenty of sights and sounds going on at the Lakers’ practice facility at El Segundo.

Steve Nash. The Los Angeles Lakers held a media day at their El Segundo practice facility. Players were photographed for team materials, and interviewed by the press. El Segundo, CA. 9/27/2013. photo by (John McCoy/Los An8eles Daily News)

The frustrated feelings over an injured body, a failed season and an uncomfortable role with his first year with the Lakers all spilled out when Steve Nash persistently spent this summer rehabbing. Then, shortly before training camp began Saturday, Nash was informed about a statistic that he’d hardly want lumped into his resume as a two-time NBA MVP and league’s fifth all-time leader in assists.

Nash, at age 39, also represents the NBA’s oldest player.

“It’s not a privilege I ever really dreamed about,” Nash said Saturday at the Lakers’ practice facility in El Segundo. “It’s pretty strange and surreal in a way. I’m thrilled to still be playing. I don’t feel as old as I probably look to some of these guys.”Continue reading →

He took an overnight flight from Abu Dhabi to Los Angeles a mere three hours before the Lakers’ media day began Saturday at the team’s facility in El Segundo. No problem – Bryant slept for 10 hours on the plane. Bryant sounded unsure when he will return from healing his left Achilles’ tendon. No worries – Bryant says will remain patient. The Lakers’ championship prospects this season seem deem. Not an issue – Bryant still maintains optimism.

But there was one subject that soured Bryant’s mood in an otherwise joyful day.

Dwight Howard.

The Lakers envisioned him as their franchise leaders after acquiring him last season in a four-team, 12-player trade from the Orlando Magic. Instead, Howard left for the Houston Rockets.

“I really don’t give a [expletive],” Bryant said. “It is what it is. If he came back, it would’ve been great. If he didn’t, then it’s not. It is what it is.”Continue reading →

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